Kan Yanagiya

Tales of a Golden Geisha (1990)

Nayoko, a good-hearted geisha, brings luck to the men she sleeps with, even though most are scoundrels who don't deserve it. ...

A Taxing Woman (1987)

Intrepid tax investigator Ryoko Itakura sets her sights on the mysterious and philandering Hideki Gondo, a suspected millionaire and proprietor of a thriving chain of seedy hourly hotels, who has for years succeeded at hiding the true extent of his assets ...

A Human Promise (1986)

An old woman has died and her widower with dementia confesses to killing her. After this, the story goes back in time to show the events leading up to her death. ...

Hazardous Graduation (1970)

Sex games by students at a junior high school are exposed by the principal and teachers, but the tables are turned in favor of the students. ...

Dynamite Doctor Returns (1966)

Second movie in the yoidore hakase serie ...

The Man from Planet Alpha (1966)

A film produced by Toho and Watanabe Productions as part of the Crazy Movie project featuring The Crazy Cats comedy group and jazz band members. It is the sixth film in the Crazy Operation series where the lead role was handed over from Eikichi Ueki to Kei ...

Moment of Terror (1966)

When the only son of a working class woman is fatally struck by a car driven by the adulterous wife of a company president in a hit-and-run, the victim's mother changes her identity and infiltrates the couple's home to work as their maid, plotting to murde ...

Detective (1964)

The first film with Tetsuro Tamba as a detective. An exciting drama about the pursuit of a criminal, which takes place in Yokohama. Tamba enthusiastically plays a police inspector who pursues a criminal who kidnapped his sister. ...

Ant Hell War (1964)

The sixth film of the desperado outpost series directed by Takashi Tsuboshima ...

Destroyer Yukikaze (1964)

Yutaro Kida, a worker at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal, volunteers for the navy but finds himself a cook's mate in the galley of a gunboat. But his dream is eventually realized when he is transferred to the new and powerful destroyer Yukikaze which he helped to ...

Yearning (1964)

War widow Reiko rebuilds and runs the grocery shop in the house of her husband's family. Many years later, their business is threatened by a newly built supermarket and Reiko's in-laws plan to convert their small shop into a supermarket, to her detriment. ...

A Woman's Life (1963)

A woman remembers her own marriage when dealing with the love life of her son. ...

Rabble Tactics (1963)

The warlords overrun the country while the farmers are starving, and forced to become soldiers to keep the wolf from the door. The farmers are recruited in groups of fifteen. In Yaju's village, there are only twelve men, so they press Oto, who looks more ...

Crazy Operation: First Move (1963)

After being fired from his company, Hitoshi Ueda opens a arbitration company. Experts from various fields gather around him and with their natural vitality, they solve one dispute after another. But as it turns out, their next dispute will be at a global s ...

Case of a Young Lord 10: The Mystery of the Spider Lady (1962)

Young lord investigates the mysterious death that takes place in the underworld. ...

Haruko no ōen danchō (1962)

1962 Japanese movie ...

The Pacific War and Himeyuri Corps (1962)

The last fight put up by remaining forces and a special volunteer nursing corps in 1944-5. ...

Pleasant Company (1962)

Nippon no obaachan (1962)

Two obaachans become fast friends listening to music in front of a record store. They both boast about their loving sons but in reality, one had just escaped a retirement home and the other was looking for an escape from her son and daughter-in-law. With n ...

The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Whirlwind (1961)

The third film in the Taro series, following "The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Eternity" and "The World's Most Noble Guy: Taro's Rush." Taro, who had painstakingly graduated from the University of Merchant Marine after six years, was on his way to work ...

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 4 (1961)

A comedy of a high-spirited geisha, Koharu, who is at risk of being trapped in a conspiracy to take over a lucrative diamond mine business. ...

Lord Mito: All Star Version (1960)

In 1691 a terrible fire broke out in Denmacho, Yotsuya, burning down the towns around it, up to the shores of Shibaura. A month and a half later, another fire broke out, this time in Komagome, burning down the two gates of Asakusa and Sujikai, and continui ...

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha, Part 3 (1960)

Popular geisha Koharu suspects that Yusaku, a handsome stranger she falls in love with, is involved in a robbery of precious diamond. ...

Police Precinct Part 14 (1960)

An elderly woman, Ume Matsumoto, informed the First Investigation Department that her son Hirasaka, who runs a shoe store, had disappeared. The detectives had a bad feeling which hit the mark, an unidentified drowned body is identified as Hirasaka. Some pr ...

Outlaw Under a Blue Canopy (1960)

Sheriff Goro goes undercover to investigate drug smugglers. ...

The Prickly Mouthed Geisha Part 2 (1960)

Young geisha Kohana scrambles to realize her dream of bringing back her grandmother's restaurant business. ...

Return of the One-Armed Swordsman (1960)

The legendary one-eyed one-armed swordsman Tange Sazen is back to aid a Magistrate in his efforts to steal bribe money on its way to Edo for the benefit to poor farmers. ...

The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity (1959)

Kaji, sent to the Japanese army labeled Red, witnesses cruelties in the army and revolts against the abusive treatment against a fellow recruit. He also sees his friend Shinjô defecting to the Russian border, and he ends in the front to fight a lost battl ...

Moonlight Mask: The Last Death of the Devil (1959)

The sixth and last Moonlight Mask film in the original series produced by Toei in the 1950s. ...

Moonlight Mask: The Challenging Ghost (1959)

Fifth Moonlight Mask theatrical film. ...

Moonlight Mask: The Monster Gorilla (1959)

Fourth Moonlight Mask theatrical film. ...

The Happy Family (1959)

Japanese family drama. ...

Moonlight Mask: Claws of Satan (1958)

Gekko Kamen faces off against Satan's Claw, who is after the treasure of the Kingdom of Baradai. ...

Voice Without a Shadow (1958)

Asako, a former telephone operator once heard the voice of a murder suspect which has continued to haunt her. Years later her husband invites his boss, Hamazaki, over for dinner and she realises his voice is suspiciously like that of the killer. Before she ...

The Naked Sun (1958)

A young, struggling couple are making every sacrifice so they will one day in the not-too-distant-future, have enough money to get married. As they have agreed on this procedure, it comes as a shock to the young woman to find out from her husband-to-be tha ...

The Abandoned Swords (1958)

Best friends Gentaro and Sanpei become fateful enemies when Sanpei steals a secret document revealing the identity of the chosen successor to the Tokugawa Shogun. Gentaro of the Owari clan sets out to retrieve the invaluable document. ...

With Songs in My Heart (1958)

Sayuri, a young woman born to a simple life on a farm, moves to Tokyo to pursue a life long dream of becoming a singer. Through dance, music, and songs, this story shows how a girl raised on a farm was able to make her dream a reality, with the love of tho ...

Moonlight Mask: Duel to the Death in Dangerous Waters (1958)

The masked hero 'Moon Light Mask' battles the villainous 'Skull Mask' and his numerous masked henchmen who are trying to steal the secrets of the deadly HO evaporation bomb. This movie is part one of a two-part story arc that continues in the second movie. ...

Moonlight Mask (1958)

First Moonlight Mask theatrical film. ...

Shiroi natsu (1957)

Hey, please, hold me... A thrilling physical farewell gift that a pure-hearted adult received while trembling!! Set in a simple rural town's post office, this youthfully bright and humorous story depicts the intricacies of life experienced by a rookie youn ...

Eight Hours of Terror (1957)

A bus making its precarious way across a winding mountain road picks up some unwelcome passengers. ...

Dancing Sisters (1957)

It's been five years since her husband had passed away. Fuyuko lives in the quiet suburbs, in a small but loving home with her three beautiful daughters. Haruko, the eldest, is the lead vocalist in a band. Natsuko is the conscientious type, who spends her ...

Frankie the Milkman (1956)

Roppeita is big in size, clumsy and full of energy. When his grandfather orders him to move out to Tokyo to save a sinking milk delivery business a distant relative of his runs, he encounters the most strangest of clientele. ...

Kingorô no omawari-san (1956)

Japanese "kayo" film centered around the song "Wakai omawari-san" by Shiro Sone. ...

Tonari no yome (1956)

Japanese drama film. ...

Nikoyon monogatari (1956)

Japanese drama film. ...

Seishun wo warera ni (1956)

Funny Friend: The Baby and Express (1956)

East-West Transportation, headquartered in Tokyo, operates daily scheduled cargo flights on the Tokaido Road from Tokyo to Osaka and back, as the name suggests. Daikichi was a driver working for the East-West transportation company, and Rokuheita served as ...

The Motherless (1955)

Japanese drama film. ...

The Wolves (1955)

A group of five rookie insurance salespersons, driven to desperation by the impossibility of their work in Japan's failing postwar economy, form a plan to rob a cash delivery truck in order to provide for their families. ...

Salaryman Mejiro Sanpei (1955)

A masterpiece of life sketches overflowing with heartwarming affection and laughter that portrays the modern common people with humor and pathos, focusing on the daily life of Sanpei Mejiro, a salaryman for over twenty years who finds a little happiness i ...

My Pistol Is Quick (1954)

Turbid Youth (1954)

Shigeki Kachi, Tosuke Satomura, and Nanako, who belong to the theater company Vuanbert around Dosa, withdrew at the indignation of the chairman Hayashi and seeked their own careers in the film industry. ...

The Valley Between Love and Death (1954)

A great ambition to portray with sharp satire and humor the course of modern anxiety and love that is about to be driven to despair. ...

The Black Current (1954)

A reporter Takuo, who is sleeping in the newspaper room of the Maichō newspaper company, receives a sudden report from a reporter that the missing Akiyama JNR president was found dead. ...

The Tragic General: Yamashita Tomoyuki (1953)

When Japan entered into the great tragedy that was unforgettable, the general general of the history of the Ming Dynasty, hokudai Yamashita, left the Malay front and occupied Singapore at once, and was praised as a "Malay tiger." However, the situation in ...

Children of Hiroshima (1952)

Shows the devastation caused by the atomic bomb, and by use of a fictional storyline, portrays the struggle of the ordinary Japanese people in dealing with the aftermath. ...

Tokyo Sweetheart (1952)

Following the Second World War, the lives of various people in a poverty-stricken area of Tokyo are entertwined. Pachinko parlor girls, shoeshine boys, a maker of costume jewelry, and a streetcorner artist all struggle to make their livings and to find hap ...

Forty-Eight Man (1952)

Jidai-geki by Kiyoshi Saeki ...

The Skin of the South (1952)

When a group of young geologists declares a mountainside marked for residential development unstable, they are met with scorn on two fronts. On one end, they must contend with the local villagers who balk at the prospect of relocation; on the other, they f ...

Dispersed Clouds (1951)

Five women classmates from a college in Tokyo are on the first stretch of a walking tour when one of them, Masako, falls ill at a railway station. Osen, a middle-aged maid from a nearby inn, takes her in and nurses her, assisted by Dr. Minami, a young phys ...

Sasaki Kojiro (1951)

Director Hiroshi Inagaki's early version of the life and death of famed swordsman Sasaki Kojiro. Otani Tomoemon gives a brilliant performance as Sasaki Kojiro, who rises from humble beginnings to national fame, and a young Toshiro Mifune appears as the leg ...

The Blue Pearl (1951)

The Blue Pearl depicts the interplay between a young man from Tokyo and two ama (pearl divers; literally "women of the sea") in a superstitious coastal town. Though raised within the same tradition-bound crucible, the two women – Noe and Riu – are port ...

Swords and Brocade (1951)

A young lord joins gang of Robin-esque robbers. ...

The White Orchid (1951)

A Japanese adaptation of Guy de Maupassant's short story Boule de Suif, directed by Kimura Keigo ...

Koibito (1951)

A Japanese romance drama. ...

Senka o koete (1950)

Pursuit At Dawn (1950)

This little seen early work by Ichikawa was produced during the director's Shintoho period (1947-51). Written by Kaneto Shindô and featuring Ryô Ikebe as a young policeman it is part crime drama, part social study. Definitely not an undiscovered masterpi ...

The Angry Street (1950)

University students Sudo and Mori make money by picking up rich girls in dance clubs and conning them into giving them cash. Mori is the brains of the operation, and Sudo is the suave dancer who picks up the girls. Sudo becomes gradually involved with thre ...

Duel in the Sun (1950)

A film by Kiyoshi Saeki ...

Conduct Report on Professor Ishinaka (1950)

Three humorous love stories set in rural Japan. ...

Escape at Dawn (1950)

Mikami, a Japanese soldier, is captured by Chinese forces. Although able to escape, he is treated with contempt by his peers. After falling in love with a prostitute named Harumi, she convinces him to desert the army and live with her. ...

Escape from Prison (1950)

Stray Dog (1949)

A bad day gets worse for young detective Murakami when a pickpocket steals his gun on a hot, crowded bus. Desperate to right the wrong, he goes undercover, scavenging Tokyo's sweltering streets for the stray dog whose desperation has led him to a life of c ...

Wings of Victory (1942)

Mother Never Dies (1942)

The premature death of a young mother serves as inspiration for her husband and son. ...

The Man Who Waited (1942)

A bizarre murder at a hot springs resort threatens to disrupt an Edo detective's (Hasegawa) vacation. When his hot-blooded wife (Yamada) starts snooping around, however, he finds himself reluctantly drawn in to the case. ...

A Man's Flower Road of Triumph (1941)

The Battle of Kawanakajima (1941)

This epic depicts the battle between Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. The focus of the story is the struggle by the unit leader in charge of the main supply wagons and the supply troops to transport materiel to the Uesugi army. To this are added episodes ...

Travelling Actors (1940)

This film depicts a troupe of wandering kabuki players traveling through rural Japan. ...

The Town (1939)

Shanghai Landing Party (1939)

This film attempts to reconstruct the tension of the Battle of Shanghai through an episode in an understated way, introducting its story in a documentary mode. In the film story, Japan's marine regiment protects Japanese residents and Chinese refugees-wome ...

Beautiful Departure (1939)

A rich bourgeoisie family has little care in the world and knows no other lifestyle. It is only the family's second daughter who has an insecure bone in her body and ponders a day when the good times might end. Then one day the family-owned company goes ba ...

Rainbow Hill (1938)

A half brother and sister work at a hotel in Hakone respectively as a porter and a souvenir shop clerk. They are close. One day a woman named Hasegawa checks into the hotel in order to recuperate in a calm environment with fresh air. She is the mother of t ...

The Giant (1938)

Japanese adaptation of LES MISERABLES. The last film of director Itami took inspiration from Les Miserables. Transpiring during the Southwestern War of 1877 in Japan, which was the last civil war in the country, a criminal escapes prison only to be found ...